01 View of Blue Moon, Super Moon on August 30, 2023
Blue Moon, Super Moon, August 30/31, 2023
-Rohit Kumar Parmar [1]
Moon is Earth’s natural satellite and is an inspiration for forms of art and literature - paintings, poetry, sculpture, stories, tales; romantic songs in Indian movies in all languages. It also impacts sciences – astrology, geography and physics. While a view of full Moon in high rise cities is difficult to enjoy, a walk/ drive along an open area on a full Moon night can be romantic.
The word चन्द्र (Chandra) literally means bright, shining or glittering and is used for the Moon in Sanskrit, Indian and South Asian languages, which have a link to Sanskrit. It is also the first/middle and surname for both men and women. Some of the synonyms of Chandra include शशि, रजनीश, राकापति, राकेश, छपाकर, निशाकर, विधु, मयंक, इन्दु, सुधांशु, सोम.
Moon, especially Poornima (full Moon) fascinates us with its soft brightness, glow, and luminosity and instils a sense of creativity. Moon as we all learnt does not have its own light and reflects the light of Sun, which appears in different colours, as a result of atmospheric conditions, volcanic ashes and smoke, water droplets in the air, or certain types of clouds. Moon could be black/dark, grey, orange, pink, red, silver, yellow and white in colour.
Blue coloured Moons are rare and have nothing to do with the calendar or the Moon's phases, but are a result of factors listed above.
An enthusiastic photographer captured pictures of 48 colours of the Moon over ten years, and shared them in 2021.
02 Strawberry Moon on 24 June 2021, partly hidden by clouds
Moon has been assigned different names for a variety of reasons. Strawberry Moon is not about the colour of the full Moon in the month of June, but relates to ancient traditions of Native American tribes that strawberries are ripe and ready to be gathered.
In Indian Astrology, Moon the second planet after Sun [2] in a set of nine planets, and for the believer, is a factor impacting chest, happiness, left eye, material things, mental state, mind, morale, mother, peace, wealth, etc.
Rahu and Ketu are the north and south points of intersection of the paths of the Sun and the Moon, as they move in the celestial sphere. Rahu and Ketu also figure in the set of nine planets of Indian astrology.
Super Moon and Blue Moon of August 30, 2023
The full Moon on August 30, 2023 is both a Super Moon and a Blue Moon. This phenomenon is happening immediately after the landing of Indian Chandrayan -3 on the south pole of Moon.
Super Moon
The Moon’s perigee [3] with Earth is when the Moon is at its closest point to the Earth during a month. A Super Moon appears slightly (but distinctly) larger and brighter than a normal full Moon. The August 30, 2023 full Moon coincides with the Moon’s perigee, making it a Super Moon.
Blue Moon
The phrase `Once in a Blue Moon’ is often used to refer to things that happen very rarely. But the real meaning of Blue Moon does not actually involve the Moon turning Blue. Some believe that the term Blue Moon meaning something rare, may have originated when smoke and ashes after a volcanic eruption turned the Moon Blue.
There are two definitions of Blue Moon.
The first and more common definition of a Blue Moon is when a full Moon appears for the second time in a month. There was a full Moon on August 1, 2023 which makes the August 30, 2023 full Moon a Blue Moon.
The more popular definition of the Blue Moon, that of the second Full Moon in a month, owes its existence to a misinterpretation attributed to an amateur astronomer.
03 Another view of Blue Moon, Super Moon on August 30, 2023
A second definition of Blue Moon is the third Full Moon of a season that has four Full Moons. There are four seasons in the Gregorian (Solar) calendar, Spring, Summer and Winter. Each season has three full Moons, making it twelve. The third Moon is named Blue Moon so that the last full Moon can continue to be called with the proper name for that season. The Blue Moon is the thirteenth Moon in the year.
The occurrence of a Blue Moon, by either definitions is because the Moon takes a little less than one month to orbit the Earth.
The Moon takes 27.3 days to orbit the Earth, and the lunar phase cycle lasts about 29.53 days. The lunar cycle takes a little longer because as the Moon is orbiting the Earth, the Earth is also orbiting the Sun, so the Moon needs to travel a bit further in its orbit to complete a lunar cycle.
The Moon phases of 29.53 days translates to 354 days to complete 12 lunar cycles. So every 2.5 years or so a 13th full Moon is observed within a calendar year.
In a month of 30 days, there can be two full Moons, as in August 2023 (1 and 30). Similarly in a season of three months, there can be four full Moons.
Super Moons are a lot more common. You can expect three or four every year. But a Blue Moon coinciding with a Super Moon is a very rare phenomenon.
While the next monthly Blue Moon will happen as early as 19/20 August 2024, the next two Super Blue Moons will happen in January and March 2037.
During 2023, there will be 13 full Moons, 4 of which will be Super Moons (July 3, August 1 and 30 and September 29), one of which will be a Blue Moon and a Super Moon (August 30).
The phenomenon of Blue Moons is not relevant in Lunar calendars, like the Vikram Samvat in India, where a month is determined by the duration of lunar rotation of 29.53 days equal to the rotation of the Moon and the question of a second full Moon in a month does not arise.
Lunar calendars, like the Vikram Samvat make adjustments in the calendar in the form of अधिक मास (adhika masa, extra month). During 2023, there is Adhika Masa from 18 July to 16 August, as an extra Shravan month.
Lyrics of चंदा मामा दूर के
चंदा मामा दूर के पुए पकाए बूर के चंदा मामा दूर के पुए पकाए बूर के
आप खाए थाली मे मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे आप खाए थाली मे मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे चंदा मामा दूर के पुए पकाए बूर के
प्याली गयी टूट मुन्ना गया रूठ प्याली गयी टूट मुन्ना गया रूठ
लाएँगे नयी प्यालिया बजा-बजा के तालिया लाएँगे नयी प्यालिया बजा-बजा के तालिया
मुन्ने को मनाएँगे हम दूध मलाई खाएँगे चंदा मामा दूर के पुए पकाए बूर के आप खाए थाली मे मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
चंदा मामा दूर के पुए पकाए बूर के
उड़नखटोले बैठ के मुन्ना चंदा के घर जाएगा उड़नखटोले बैठ के मुन्ना चंदा के घर जाएगा
तारो के संग आँख मिचौली खेल के दिल बहलाएगा खेल कूद से जब मेरे मुन्ने का दिल भर जाएगा ठुमक-ठुमक मेरा मुन्ना वापस घर को आएगा
चंदा मामा दूर के पुए पकाए बूर के हो चंदा मामा दूर के पुए पकाए बूर के
आप खाए थाली मे मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे आप खाए थाली मे मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे चंदा मामा दूर के हो पुए पकाए बूर के
[1] Author, Freelance, Indian Economic Service (Retired), former Senior Economic Adviser, Government of India, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and former Adviser (P 4) UNDP, Yemen has in posts on his website (https://rohitkparmar.wixsite.com/site), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohit-kumar-parmar-841b4724) YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@rohitkparmar), twitter (https://twitter.com/rohitkparmar?s=09), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/rohit.parmar.5268750/), been writing/sharing varied topics and can be reached at rohitkparmar@yahoo.com. [2] Both Sun and Moon are not Planets as defined in the Solar system. [3] The point in the Moon's orbit where it is farthest from the earth is called apogee, while its closest approach is known as perigee.
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